𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch.XX - 《we had a bonding moment》

oOo

Glenn drew a +4 card from the deck and hid a grin. "Your turn," he told Alice. Something in his voice must've given him away. Alice narrowed her eyes at him.

Alice threw a reverse card to the pile and the corner of her lips lifted in mischief. Glenn played the +4 at Felix with a sympathetic 'sorry, bro'.

"Noooo! Bro, you ruined my play!" Felix whined.

"Grow up, bobo," Alice said with a grin, pulling a card from her hand.

Glenn wiped the sweat off his brow and cleared his throat. "Hey, guys. Uhm, if you don't mind my asking, what's the deal with your aunt?"

Alice's hazel eyes met his. "What you mean? There's no deal there. Mom said there's nothing we can do."

"Yeah, Diana told me that. She was kinda upset about it, I think. I can't really tell."

"The girl's a freaking open book." Felix played his hand and scratched his chin. "You'll get used to it."

"I'm sure. But I mean, before this all went down." Glenn glanced at the siblings. "You guys were supposed to be at her place, but you were out camping?" He shrugged. "I don't get it. I've caught some pieces from conversations with your sister, but I don't get the full picture."

Alice scoffed full of disdain, her eyes on her cards. "Our grandma was there. Abuela's a stone-hearted, cold-blooded snake," she said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Felix murmured in agreement as he nodded.

"I'm still lost, guys."

"We come from a big family," Alice explained, "there's always some shit happening with someone. Our grandma, our aunt - not this one, our other aunt from mom's side -, her two sons and daughters-in-law, and two of our cousins from dad's side. All of them had it out for our mom."

Glenn blinked in surprise and disbelief. Irene was such a sweet woman. He wondered why so many people - family members no less - disliked her so much. "Did she... do anything to them in particular?"

"She lived her own life and kept to herself. Her only crime was having her life put together and having a family that loves each other."

"Jealousy and pettiness," Felix added, "And just a bunch of assholes with no lives of their own."

Glenn spluttered, "But even her own mom?"

"After grandpa died it got worse, 'cause she'd always been his favorite," Felix supplied.

"The others more 'cause some of them worked with mom and she was their Teamleiterin, their uh-" Alice snapped her fingers at Felix for help.

"Boss, so to speak."

Alice pointed at her brother. "Yeah, thanks. And some people can't separate business from personal life."

Glenn put the pieces of the puzzle together. "So your aunt set you up by inviting your grandma along?"

"Yeah, she was hoping for some kiss and make up, but Abuela was being a super mega bitch so we took our shit and we left."

"Like mom says, God writes straight with crooked lines."

"I guess he does," Glenn murmured and drew a card from the deck. "How long has Diana been gone, anyway? What is she even doing?"

Alice's mouth fell open in shocked offense. "What, you don't like hanging out with us? Did your coolness outgrow ours?"